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American Morning
Malvo Deliberations
Aired December 18, 2003 - 08:35 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's turn to CNN's senior legal analyst Jeff Toobin this morning. So many things have been raised by Jeanne, so let's kind of walk through them one by one.
First, the judge said no to the jurors who want to revisit the vehicle. Why is that?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: The judges don't like field trips. There are chances for other influence to come into effect. Unless there's an awfully good reason, they like the jurors to be limited to what's been presented actually in the courtroom.
O'BRIEN: Then they had questions about the definition of malice and under the control of reason. What we heard from Jeanne, she's sort of inclined to go with the usual definition, which frankly, doesn't sound very helpful from the judge.
TOOBIN: No, the risk is always to give the wrong instruction. And judges, when it comes to questions from the jury, it's always the most critical part of the case. They try to say as little as possible. Under the control of reason are not complicated legal terms. They're not esoteric. You don't need any special knowledge, so most judges will say those mean -- you have to decide what those words mean yourself.
O'BRIEN: That's kind of the whole point.
TOOBIN: That's basically it's up to the jury.
O'BRIEN: So when you hear these questions, what is the signal to you? It's already taken longer for the jury to look at this case.
TOOBIN: Even though we're in Virginia, which is famous for fast verdicts, this is still not a very fast -- this is still early in deliberations for a trial that went several weeks. These are commonsense questions, fairly common kinds of questions. I really wouldn't interpret it much one way or another.
O'BRIEN: You're not willing to go out on a limb for us this morning.
TOOBIN: I'm not willing to go out on a limb.
O'BRIEN: All right, thanks, Jeff. We'll continue to check in with you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 18, 2003 - 08:35 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's turn to CNN's senior legal analyst Jeff Toobin this morning. So many things have been raised by Jeanne, so let's kind of walk through them one by one.
First, the judge said no to the jurors who want to revisit the vehicle. Why is that?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: The judges don't like field trips. There are chances for other influence to come into effect. Unless there's an awfully good reason, they like the jurors to be limited to what's been presented actually in the courtroom.
O'BRIEN: Then they had questions about the definition of malice and under the control of reason. What we heard from Jeanne, she's sort of inclined to go with the usual definition, which frankly, doesn't sound very helpful from the judge.
TOOBIN: No, the risk is always to give the wrong instruction. And judges, when it comes to questions from the jury, it's always the most critical part of the case. They try to say as little as possible. Under the control of reason are not complicated legal terms. They're not esoteric. You don't need any special knowledge, so most judges will say those mean -- you have to decide what those words mean yourself.
O'BRIEN: That's kind of the whole point.
TOOBIN: That's basically it's up to the jury.
O'BRIEN: So when you hear these questions, what is the signal to you? It's already taken longer for the jury to look at this case.
TOOBIN: Even though we're in Virginia, which is famous for fast verdicts, this is still not a very fast -- this is still early in deliberations for a trial that went several weeks. These are commonsense questions, fairly common kinds of questions. I really wouldn't interpret it much one way or another.
O'BRIEN: You're not willing to go out on a limb for us this morning.
TOOBIN: I'm not willing to go out on a limb.
O'BRIEN: All right, thanks, Jeff. We'll continue to check in with you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
